Emergancy COVID-19 Notices for the Liverpool City Region - 2020-05-04

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DAILY EMERGENCY COVID-19 NEWS
... Important Daily Notices ...

AS This page is to place quick update important notices that are being sent to us from Government and other organisations over the Coronavirus Emergency affecting our country (UK)...  Please remember that the information changes quickly, so always check to see what time and when the last post was made.  We will update as and when we can...  Users of our Formby Reporter's Free Email Service will get most updates 1st and then they will be added on here as soon as we can...  If you have any updates to send in or any views on the posts on here, please email us to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.

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This page last updated on 4 May 2020


Council pledges not to relax monitoring of children's social care providers

CHILDREN'S social work teams in Liverpool will continue to have regular contact with young people being cared for by private fostering and residential care providers; despite the Government relaxing the law during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coronavirus Act made changes to the Children Act that have relaxed quality assurance and requirements for monitoring private, non-Local Authority providers until 25 September 2020, at the earliest.

It has removed enforceable, statutory deadlines for visits to young people, care home inspections, case planning and reviews; as well as cancelling the need for fostering and adoption panels to approve carers and hear complaints, and the requirement for a DBS check for carers.

Liverpool City Council has chosen to stick with the previous legal requirements to make sure the most vulnerable young people are getting the support they need and that providers are properly monitored.

After an initial dip in staffing levels in March due to advice around self isolating for workers with health conditions, attendance in the children's social work team has subsequently steadily increased, with ¾ currently at work; up from 62% 4 weeks ago.

Over the past week, teams have:-

Carried out 801 visits to 601 children.

234 home visits by the Family Support Team.

Carried out 3,000 risk assessments and management plans.

In addition, 35% of targeted, vulnerable children are attending the Council's network of School Hubs, against a national average of just 5%.

Councillor Barry Kushner, Cabinet member for children's services, said:- "I would like to pay tribute to our staff who are going over and above; even more so than usual; in these unprecedented times, enabling us to continue to provide services for vulnerable young people. The Children Act was enacted for the benefit and the protection of children, not services or private agencies. This means the amendments made are to the benefit of agencies and not children. By reducing the requirements and quality assurance arrangements for private fostering and residential care agencies to Local Authorities, the amendment is relaxing the regulatory environment that agencies operate in, and the safeguarding of children. My view is that there was no need to relax these regulations and Liverpool will work in accordance with original regulations in the Children Act and will not relax the quality and the safeguarding of children in our care. We are maintaining timescales for statutory visits, the fostering panel continues to meet through video conferencing and no foster carer will be approved without a DBS check. It is what our young people need to keep them safe."


HMRC invites self employed to get ready to make their claims

THIS week, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will start contacting around 3 and a ½ million customers who may be eligible for the Government's Self employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to explain the application process and help them get ready to make a claim.
  
The claims service opens, on Wednesday, 13 May 2020, and is being delivered ahead of schedule, with payments reaching bank accounts, by 25 May 2020, or 6 working days after the claim is made.
   
The scheme will benefit self employed individuals or those in a partnership whose business has been adversely affected by Coronavirus, covering most people who get at least ½  of their income from self employment.  SEISS is a temporary scheme that will enable those eligible to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their average trading profits up to a maximum of ₤7,500 (equivalent to 3 months' profits) in a single instalment.

HMRC is using information that customers have provided in their 2018-19 Tax Return; and Returns for 2016-17 and 2017-18 where needed; to determine their eligibility and is contacting customers who may be eligible via email, SMS or letter. We're also opening an online checker, from Monday, 4 May 2020, which will let customers check their eligibility for themselves, as well as giving them a date on which they can apply.

Customers are eligible if their business has been adversely affected by Coronavirus, they traded in 2019-20, intend to continue trading and they:-   
  
Earn at least ½ of their income through self employment;.

Have trading profits of no more than ₤50,000 per year.

Traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self Assessment Tax Return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year.    

Where individuals are ineligible for the scheme, HMRC will direct them to guidance setting out the conditions to help them understand why they are ineligible, and advice about other support that might be available to them such as:- income tax deferrals, rental support, Universal Credit, access to mortgage holidays and the various business support schemes the Government has introduced to protect businesses during this time.   

We expect our phone lines to be very busy over the next few weeks as people enter this new scheme, so are encouraging customers to only call us if they can't find what they need on GOV.UK, from their tax agent or via our webchat service; this will leave the lines open for those who need our help most.


Total UK cases COVID-19 cases - update for Liverpool City Region and surroundings

ON 4 May, fatalities have increased by 288 taking the total number of deaths of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, by a Public Health or NHS Laboratory to 28,734. The number of COVID-19 infections has risen by 3,985 in just a day, to 190,584, the Department of Health said. In England, there have been 126,346 confirmed cases. North West of England has seen 20,428  confirmed cases. Current Hospital Laboratory confirmed cases within the following Local Authorities, in and around the Liverpool City Region are as follows:-
► Liverpool, 1,467 confirmed cases.

► Sefton, 835 confirmed cases.

► Wirral, 1,044 confirmed cases.

► St. Helens, 679 confirmed cases.

► Halton, 333 confirmed cases.

► Lancashire, 2,920 confirmed cases.

► Cheshire West and Chester, 859 confirmed cases.

► Cheshire East, 925 confirmed cases.

► Manchester, 1,168 confirmed cases.

► Stockport, 888 confirmed cases.

► Trafford, 627 confirmed cases.

► Wigan, 775 confirmed cases.

► Bolton, 819 confirmed cases.

► Rochdale, 535 confirmed cases.

► Bury, 553 confirmed cases.

► Tameside, 480 confirmed cases.

► Oldham, 776 confirmed cases.

► Blackburn with Darwen, 337 confirmed cases.

These stats are according to Public Health England as of 04/05/2020. Last updated 5.09pm GMT. UK total includes cases detected through:- "Pillar 2" testing (tests carried out by commercial partners) and therefore does not equate to the sum of the 4 countries' counts, which only include:- "Pillar 1" (tests carried out by NHS / PHE / Devolved Administration Labs).. UK total includes cases detected through:- "Pillar 2" testing (tests carried out by commercial partners) and therefore does not equate to the sum of the 4 countries' counts, which only include:- "Pillar 1" (tests carried out by NHS / PHE / Devolved Administration Labs).


UK Government Coronavirus Press Conference on 4 May 2020 Video


 


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29 March 2020

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05 April 2020

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03 May 2020

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